


Planting Seeds

by indestinatus



Category: NCIS
Genre: F/M, Prompt Fic, Short & Sweet, buying plants and making promises :')
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:01:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26250826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/indestinatus/pseuds/indestinatus
Summary: Tony and Ziva go shopping for plants for their new home and an important conversation ensues.
Relationships: Ziva David/Anthony DiNozzo
Comments: 11
Kudos: 45





	Planting Seeds

**Author's Note:**

> my entry for the @giveusourtivaprompts September prompt challenge on tumblr!! 🌼 inspired by the amazing art of Pascal Campion. See the artwork [here.](https://pascalcampion.tumblr.com/image/186926022632) Link to his gallery [here.](https://gallerypascal.com/)
> 
>  **prompt** : soft // 1k-2k words // “you matter to me” // home
> 
> this may or may not go against the whole premise of another one of my fics haha oops

“What about this one?” asked Ziva, taking a pot from the ground which held a rather large leafy fern and balancing it on her hip.

Tony eyed it for a moment, trying to see what was different in that one to the other potted plants she had asked his opinion on earlier. 

“Great,” was all that he could come up with, looking at Ziva apologetically. 

She lifted a brow. “Are you going to say that to everything I ask?”

Tony studied how composed she looked with that potted plant on her hip among so many others in the nursery, a place he never saw himself entering in the first place. 

“Hm… pretty much, yeah.”

She eyed him for a moment then chuckled, shaking her head as she returned the clay pot to the ground. 

Tony watched her walk further ahead, Ziva’s gaze darting from the grassy flowers sitting on various wooden racks around them to the hanging ivies that cascaded from the glass panels towards the floor. She looked calm, surprisingly in peace with the arduous task of decorating their house—something he’d been struggling with since he stopped living by himself almost three years ago.

It was the end of winter, which marked a whole season they’ve spent together without having to worry about Sahar, and the breezy March air was somewhat peaceful on itself; but Tony couldn’t shake the restless feeling that now bubbled inside his chest. 

“Are you certain about this?” he asked carefully, following her steps close behind. 

Ziva chuckled again. “That house looks haunted without any plants. I know you don’t like greens, but some nature is good for the spirits.” 

Unable to control the agitation growing inside, Tony took a grassy leaf as he passed by and snapped it, only to realize when an employee shot him a disapproving glare that they were there for sale; which made him instantly turn red from his mistake. 

After mumbling some horrible apology, Tony turned to Ziva again, making sure to focus on her instead of the enclosed green surroundings. 

“I know, it’s just… Are you certain that’s what you want?”

She looked over her shoulder, brows pulling in. “The plants?”

Tony swallowed. “To live here,” he cautioned. “With me.”

Ziva stopped, turning to face him with a sad look in her eyes. 

“Tony,” she said, and even if her voice had a bit of sympathy, there was no pity in it. 

She raised a hand to squeeze his arm and her eyes met his, searching for an understatement that went far beyond words could capture. 

“Sorry,” Tony replied, shaking his head. A plant nursery wasn’t the right place to have this conversation, and he knew that. “After... well, after _that_ , I’ve been questioning things.”

Ziva eyed him with concern, her hand still resting just above his elbow. 

“Are you having doubts?” she asked, eyes skimming his face. 

“No,” Tony breathed out. “God, no. It’s just… my ego has been bruised.”

“Good thing it’s big enough to take a beating.”

She offered him a small smile, but he didn’t have it in him to return.

“Tony,” Ziva said again, eyes searching his until their gazes met. “Just because I don’t want to marry you right _now_ , it doesn’t mean I don’t want you. Or our daughter.”

Remembering the night the conversation about marriage had been brought up, the uncertainty must have been clear in Tony’s eyes, because Ziva raised the hand that held his arm to cup his cheek instead. 

“Quite the contrary,” she said. “Now I don’t want anything else.”

His pulse calmed down a little when he raised a hand to hold her wrist, reminding himself once again that she was real, that they were there together. 

“I want what you want.”

“I want a home,” she said with sympathy. “A place where I can just be. For a while.” Her hand drew back from his face to squeeze the one that held her wrist, eyes still locked with his. “To breathe, that’s what I want.”

Thinking about the things she had to do to be there with him in the first place brought back a wave of guilt, and Tony suddenly felt ashamed to be asking that of her so soon. 

“Sorry,” he offered.

Ziva shook her head. “You have nothing to be sorry for.”

“I know, it’s just…” his eyes darted to the sunlit roof, now unable to meet her gaze. “You matter to me, Ziva. And you’ve been through so much, I’m—I’m never certain if what I can give you is enough.”

She brought her other hand to rest against their already joined ones. 

“Why do you say that?”

Tony clenched his jaw. “The ring… it was silly.”

“It wasn’t silly. At all.” He felt her fingers turning his chin so she could look at him, and found a surprising steadiness in her eyes. “If you want to marry me, we can do it right now. Or five years in the future. Or next month. It doesn’t matter.”

Ziva eyed him for a moment, skimming his face again for signs of worry before bringing their joined hands to rest just above his heart.

“Tony, I want _you_ ,” she said low enough for only him to hear. “Not a ring. I just… don’t think now it’s the right moment, that’s all.”

He watched her wait for his reaction, his heartbeat slowing down as he let himself get lost in those pretty eyes. He remembered why they were there in the first place—to decorate a new _home_ —and saw Ziva visibly relax as he raised a hand to brush a loose strand of hair out of her face. 

“I know,” he breathed. “Me neither.”

She must have sensed there was more to it than he’d let on, though, because Ziva’s gaze stayed on his for a moment too long before she leaned in to press a soft kiss on his cheek. 

“Thank you,” she said, knowing him too well for his own good.

With a small smile, Tony let her go, and they continued to walk across the aisles filled with plants from both sides again.

“Do you want a white porch at least?” he asked, pleased to see the heaviness of the air had decreased. “So I can fulfill half of the American dream?”

Ziva gave him a warm chuckle, replying, “ _only_ if you help me choose the plants for it.”

“Just don’t put them in the bedroom.”

She turned to him, an eyebrow lifted. “Why?”

“Isn’t there something about them killing you in your sleep because they steal all your oxygen?”

Ziva laughed then, her smile making his heart skip a beat. 

“You think this is all just a plot for me to kill you?”

Tony pursed his lips. “History made me not trust you.”

“Hm,” she hummed, sounding amused. 

“And you don’t want to marry me, so I have the right to think that.”

The look she gave him made Tony regret his words immediately, and he found himself apologizing again before he could think better of it. 

“Sorry.”

Ziva waved a hand in front of her face, dismissing the matter quickly. 

“How about trees?” she asked. “Big trees, so that Tali can climb them?”

That made Tony laugh, surprised by the question. “Oh, she would be obsessed with it. We used to go to the park twice a week only for me to have constant heart attacks whenever she yelled before jumping down.” He was fond of that memory. “I’m sure that child was a monkey in a past life.”

“Really?” Ziva turned to him, a new sparkle in her eyes that made him question what she was thinking. She chuckled right after, leaving him to his own thoughts. “You could make a swing to go with it.”

“I could.” Tony mused on the idea. 

“So we can watch her from our white, American porch.”

A smile started to twitch on Tony’s lips, and he took the seed envelope she was holding to keep from looking at her, skimming over gardening instructions even if his attention was elsewhere. 

“That will take a long time, though,” he said, feeling her presence at his side. “Trees can take years to grow.”

A moment passed and he felt Ziva carefully take the seeds out of his hands, their fingers brushing as she did so. He glanced at her then, amused to see she had held back on the seeds to keep them. 

“I know that.” 

Ziva cast him a knowing smirk—and as her words sank in, Tony just couldn’t hold back the grin that stretched on his face. 

They started walking again, being interrupted only by Ziva turning on her heels to throw something his way. 

“If you can’t help me choose them, do something useful at least. Hold this.” She gave him her purse, and Tony was still smiling when he caught it in the air. 

And as she drifted towards the checkout with nothing more than an envelope of seeds, Tony realized his American dream wouldn’t have to tick all the boxes to still be a pretty good one.


End file.
